Thursday, March 17, 2011

In Praise of Naps

Depending upon how you consider it, I have either a blessing or a curse.

Low blood pressure.

It’s something that I think I’ve always had.

The first time I became aware of it, I was having a company physical at Shell Oil in Houston. I was all of 22. The doctor pumped up the pressure gauge, and then a look of surprise appeared on his face. He looked at the reading, looked at me, then looked at the reading again. He shook his head.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

He shook his head. “According to your blood pressure reading, you should be asleep.”

It explains a lot of things.

For example, my uncanny ability to nod off during church sermons, as long as my wife is with me. By myself, I stay awake (so it’s obviously her fault). So, I take notes during sermons. Lots of notes.

Then there’s the serious medical condition I call post-lunch slump. After lunch, it is very difficult for me to stay awake, usually for about 45 minutes after eating. Unless I can move about. Meetings after lunch are the worst, and my company likes having lots of meetings, and lots of them after lunch.

I should live in a Spanish-speaking country; they understand post-lunch slump, and the cure for it has a very pretty name.

Siesta.

Or, as we say in English, the nap. The glorious nap.

I love taking naps. Light naps. Deep naps. Short naps and long naps. Naps of all kinds.

When our Cavalier King Charles Spaniel was still alive, he was my nap partner. In the wintertime, he was the ideal nap partner – a kind of hot-water bottle somewhere in the vicinity of my legs. He had an internal clock that went off at after almost exactly an hour. He’d awaken and then start bugging me to put him on the floor. Sometimes he’d settle down and take another nap. Sometimes he’d start to bark.

As it is, I can usually only manage a good nap (or two) on weekends. If I do a bike ride, I have to kiss the nap goodbye. And while I could probably figure out a way to manage both a nap and a bike ride, there’s this other person living in my house that often has other ideas on how to spend a weekend afternoon. The one who makes me fall asleep in church.

She tells me I should get more sleep at night. She’s right, of course. I should. But it’s become increasingly difficult to sleep past 5 a.m. After that, I’m wide awake.

I have a solution to the problem.

Naps should be required by law.

To see more posts on rest, please visit Bonnie Gray at Faith Barista, who has a “Restoring Soul Rest" carnival going on during March.

25 comments:

I get up early Glynn (3:45 or thereabouts) so i do get sleepy during the day. I will sometimes grab a 5-10 minute power nap and be great. I think naps are a gift from God. :) They certainly are a way to stop you from dozing off during prayer meeting on a Wednesday night (which I did two weeks ago). LOL And yeah, someone noticed and called me on the carpet this week. Take that nap!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I really like the way you think. While my blood pressure isn't alarmingly low it has always been on the lower end of normal which between that and mitrovalve prolapse causes low energy for me. Yes, naps should be required.

I think I could support such a law Glynn. However, it would have to be around 3 o'clock. If I'm not up and moving around at that time of day, I can barely keep my eyes open!I'm still smiling about it being your wife's fault. What fun!

Little irony here -- now that I am retired, I can take a nap anytime I want to -- I don't need to.When I worked, I always needed one -- like you -- after lunch, never could take one -- always students in the classroom.

A nap for me is a major production. First, everything has to be done and everyone's needs tended to. Then, I need to know for sure that nothing important will happen while I am napping. Too high-strung. I know. Something a nap would surely cure, I'm sure.

Enjoyed your post very much!The Doctors are always amazed at my LOW blood pressure. So that must be the reason, why I love to sleep late? Anyway, naps are not my usual habit, although to take a rest and meditate (think on the Lord) is a good substitute for a nap.

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Professional writer exploring faith and culture, life and work; happily married to Janet, the love of my life; father of two grown sons. Award-winning speechwriter and communication consultant. I am an editor for TweetSpeak Poetry and the author of the novels "Dancing Priest," "A Light Shining," and "Dancing King," and the non-fiction book "Poetry at Work."